Lip Man 1

Rob actually got a bad deal. Both Ozzie and Kenny said publicly he was signed to help at third base and in the corner outfield spots. He was forced to play in center because Anderson sucked and the team didn't have any other options. I give the guy credit for trying even though that really wasn't his spot. He was trying to help the Sox.

What did he do now?

The way they played tonight Ricky shouldn't be defending them in my opinion.

Gio had to lose sometime I guess. Oh well, they got the split, now 3-3 in this stretch of 15 tough games. That's OK with me right now. Bad game fundamentals-wise though. Very bad.

With free agency today and the history of the organization I wouldn't place a bet on your statement...now with new ownership anything is possible.

Very hard apparently for the Sox who went years and couldn't find a center fielder. Bad minor league system will do that to you. You just play the hand you've got the rest of this year and maybe get a power hitting outfielder in the off season via trade or free agency although I think the Sox have to concentrate on pitching first.

BIG surprise (sarcasm implied). I think Rick has to deal for a pitcher soon, whether he likes it or not, not just for the rest of this year but as I stated previously to get a jump on the off season when the price of pitching poker goes way, WAY up. Regarding Fulmer, as they say in baseball he's down to his last strike in my book. We'll see what happens.

No it isn't. It just says something about their journalistic ethics.

Well at least the Sun-Times has an actual Sox beat writer unlike the other newspaper in town. They claimed it was for financial reason but at the same time were giving the head honchos at the Tribune Company raises.

Always, ALWAYS wonderful to shut the Cubs and their fans up. And the way it was done tonight was spectacular. Well done guys!

Assuming this is a "real" quote I'll believe it when I see it. Talk is cheap, free agents are not.

JR on why he hired Hawk: "Eddie and I would talk to Hawk and (Don) Drysdale at length, and Hawk more so, to identify problems in the organization, we were still neophytes in this business and we were impressed with the way Hawk pointed out our problems. [GM] wasn't something he really wanted him to do, but we urged him to help us out. The mistake was that when you go to a doctor who diagnoses open-heart surgery, you don't have him do the surgery because he diagnosed the problem, you get a heart surgeon. Just because Hawk was able to diagnose our problems did not mean he could solve them. It was a terrible position to put him in, and a year later, he said he wanted out." – Jerry Reinsdorf to the Chicago Tribune’s Melissa Issacson. May 28, 2004.

So your inferring that Cooper has authority over the manager? Not saying that's not possible it is the White Sox remember but if that is the case then Ricky should be ashamed of himself. He's the manager, he has 51% of the vote, it is his ass on the line not Cooper's. Ricky's fault's are bunting in the wrong situations with the wrong people, bizarre lineup construction and bad bullpen management (especially in season's past). He is not the guy to get you to a championship in my opinion but these are the White Sox, he's part of "the Family" and regardless if the Cubs fire Maddon or Joe Girardi expresses interest in the job he's not going anywhere. Good or bad he isn't.

I don't like losing at all. I don't like rebuilding at all so don't lump me in with the analytics crowd. HOWEVER the worst place you can be in baseball is in that middle ground, the Twilight Zone if you will, so you win 75 games instead of 73. Big deal. You either need to be very good, good enough to make the playoffs ON A CONSISTENT BASIS or you need to be so bad that you can get the best prospects. (Of course that infers you have a competent front office) Robertson helping the Sox win a few more games on a bad team means absolutely nothing. ZERO, nada, nyet in the long term. I'd rather be happy having a good team that has a shot to be consistently good than being happy for one night because Robertson helped win a game and pushed the season total to 74 or 76 or 78. I don't see why that is so hard to understand. In a perfect world the White Sox in the Chicago market don't operate like a small market team but in fact, the reality is until ownership changes that's how they roll, that's who they are. b****ing won't change a damn thing. Under those circumstances with the self imposed restrictions from ownership, the only chance they had of getting out of the mess they themselves created was to blow it up and hope they get it right in a do-over. I don't like that one bit but again logically that was all they could do. Someday if we outlive current ownership maybe those circumstances will change.

Why? Was the team going anywhere with him? When his deal was up he was out the door so you get anything you can for him.

When Scott Merkin at the White Sox official site posted his Q&A with Hahn he specifically asked him why wouldn't the Sox take the money they offered Machado and apply it to Harper (he hadn't signed yet). Hahn's answer was that he didn't want to go into that...so who knows if they did follow up and try to bid on Harper or not. I suspect given Kenny's published comments they did not for whatever reason or reasons.

South Side Sox has an interesting story / suggestion today on this issue: Kenta Maeda of the Dodgers for the rest of this season and beyond.

True but he does seem very well informed regardless of if you agree with his comments or not.

Can you blame him or anyone for that matter?

Just another rational question to be asked of this front office, medical staff. An individual whom I respect, a long time fan, told me after all the "mystery" and uncertainty about Rodon's injury from last year, that he would never believe anything the Sox said regarding a player injury ever again and that he'd always assume the worst until shown otherwise about an injured player. Going back as I've stated before to "Shouldergate" and those pitchers who accused the Sox of misdiagnosing their injuries, you do have to reasonably wonder what goes on sometimes. Not "blaming" anyone, doctors are human but especially given the stakes you'd hope this just wouldn't happen. These are supposedly the best doctors, trainers and physical therapists around. Are just a few times acceptable? Is the baseline number "it shouldn't happen at all?" Again I don't know, I guess it depends on your point of view.

Totally agree. In fact I think you'll need a few decent bullpen arms to go along with starting pitching help. That's a damn tall order for one off-season. In my book you take six "starters". The five who perform best in spring training get the ball to begin. The 6th person goes to the pen as the long man / spot starter when DH pile up or unless somehow gets hurt or badly stinks.

I'm guessing the rotation next April will be in no particular order: Giolito, Lopez, Kopech, Cease, pitcher from outside the organization (hopefully not a dumpster dive) and in the second half of the season Rodon. I also hope the Sox can somehow get a 7th potential starter either from a kid in the minor league system developing (Hansen?) or signing another veteran happy to be drawing a paycheck at Charlotte in case things again go disastrously south. I yearn for the days like in 1983 when these were the Sox starters or guys in the minor league system: Hoyt, Dotson, Bannister, Burns, Koosman, Martz, Mura. Every single one of those guys had big league seasons where they won at least 10 games. That's the kind of depth you need today the way pitchers are babied and go down.

I have a strange feeling you haven't seen the last of Nate "Mr. Glass" Jones in a White Sox uniform.

What does it say though where the only guys the Sox seem to be able to get are "dumpster dives" three years into a rebuild.Not trying to be sarcastic but if that is what they had to resort to, what does that say about the minor league system?

Yes and no. Some hits but a lot of misses especially this year with the FA market and of course the Alonso trade.